When it comes to careers, 2016 is ending on a high note

As 2016 draws to a close, we look at ways you can improve your qualifications and develop your career, and we do some traditional end-of-year listicles.

2016 is nearly over. (“Thank God,” come the shouts from the peanut gallery.) That means we have some rounding up to do.

This week, we took a look at all of the sci-tech job announcements that were made in Ireland this year – a colossal 20,160 jobs, or 55 every single day.

Sticking with that theme, we looked at the top job searches of the year from Indeed.com.

We also listed some of the Twitter influencers who you should follow if you’re looking for top-notch career advice.

But, if you want to just stick with us for your career advice – thank you, faithful readers – we’ve got you covered.

We talked skills, looking at the difference between SQL and NoSQL, and asked Hays to offer some guidance on how a person can upskill without doing a course.

Though, of course, we’re not averse to courses ­– the National College of Ireland is set to roll out a number of free courses designed to bridge skills gaps in fintech, cybersecurity and analytics.

Tips and tricks

This week, we also gathered some helpful tips for those pursuing roles in specific areas.

For those interested in working in IT contracting, we shared the questions that individuals should be asking themselves to be certain they’re on the right path.

If you’re thinking of getting into UX, we heard from expert Frank Gaine, who gave us tips on how to create the perfect UX portfolio.

If you’re looking for work, though, you may already be dreading the interview process. Don’t! James Milligan, IT director at Hays, offered some guidance on the best way to answer some of the most common interview questions.

But what if the interview isn’t the biggest stumbling block?

We spoke to Nicole O’Sullivan, an entrepreneur who was interested in becoming an employee, and was struggling to find the right fit. We sought advice on her behalf on how to bridge the chasm between entrepreneurship and being employed by someone.

But, once you’re actually in a job, you’re facing a whole other set of problems, like beating procrastination and combatting mid-career crises.

Lastly, we spoke to Emmajane Morgan of Version 1 and Catherine Vaughan of EY to find out what a day looks like in their jobs.

Not all of this week’s advice was for employees, of course. We also took a look at what companies need to be doing to improve productivity.

The most common job interview questions are also probably the toughest. Do you know what to say when you’re asked where you see yourself in five years? What are you going to say your biggest weakness is?

You know that all software needs to be tested constantly to make sure it works. But what does a software tester do on a typical day? How do they stay on top of various projects? And what skills do they need to have? Version 1’s Emmajane Morgan has the answers.

In recent years, we have seen companies shift and adapt in order to increase employee productivity. One trend that has become increasingly clear is the ineffectiveness of performance management. How can a company fix that?

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Kirsty served as Silicon Republic’s Careers Editor from when she joined the company in 2015 up to August 2017. When she was younger, she had a dream where she started and won a fight with a T-Rex, so she’s pretty sure she kicked butt at this, too. Passions include eating all the cake, watching more TV than is healthy, and sassy comebacks. Her favourite thing on the internet is, and will likely remain, Pun Dog.

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